Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The sweet gale.
- noun A wind with a speed of from 34 to 40 knots (39 to 46 miles per hour; 63 to 74 kilometers per hour), according to the Beaufort scale.
- noun A storm at sea.
- noun A forceful outburst.
from The Century Dictionary.
- A copper coin.
- To sing.
- To cry; groan; croak.
- Of a person, to “croak”; talk.
- To sing; utter with musical modulations.
- To ache or tingle with cold, as the fingers.
- To crack with heat or dryness, as wood.
- noun The Myrica Gale, a shrub growing in marshy places in northern Europe and Asia and in North America: more usually called
sweet-gale , from its pleasant aromatic odor. - noun A strong natural current of air; a wind; a breeze; more specifically, in nautical use, a wind between a stiff breeze and a storm or tempest: generally with some qualifying epithet: as, a gentle, moderate, brisk, fresh, stiff, strong, or hard gale.
- noun Figuratively, a state of noisy excitement, as of hilarity or of passion.
- noun By extension, an odor-laden current of air.
- noun A song.
- noun Speech; discourse.
- noun A periodical payment of rent, interest, duty, or custom; an instalment of money.
- noun The right of a free miner to have possession of a plot of land within the Forest of Dean and hundred of St. Briavels, in England, and to work the coal and iron thereunder.
- noun Gales are classified as moderate, fresh, strong, and whole gales. See
Beaufort scale . - To sail away before the wind, or to outstrip another vessel in sailing: generally with away.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- intransitive verb (Naut.) To sale, or sail fast.
- noun A strong current of air; a wind between a stiff breeze and a hurricane. The most violent gales are called
tempests . - noun A moderate current of air; a breeze.
- noun A state of excitement, passion, or hilarity.
- noun (Naut.) one in which a ship may carry her topgallant sails.
- intransitive verb obsolete To sing.
- noun (Bot.) A plant of the genus Myrica, growing in wet places, and strongly resembling the bayberry. The sweet gale (
Myrica Gale ) is found both in Europe and in America. - noun engraving The payment of a rent or annuity.
- noun the day on which rent or interest is due.
- noun obsolete A song or story.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb intransitive To
sing ;charm ;enchant . - verb intransitive To
cry ;groan ;croak . - verb intransitive, of a person To
talk . - verb intransitive, of a bird, Scotland To
call . - verb transitive To sing; utter with
musical modulations. - noun archaic A periodic payment, such as is made of a
rent orannuity . - noun A
shrub , sweet gale (Myrica gale ) growing onmoors andfens . - noun meteorology A very strong
wind , more than abreeze , less than astorm ; number 7 through 9 winds on the 12-stepBeaufort scale . - noun An
outburst , especially oflaughter . - noun archaic A light breeze.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a strong wind moving 45-90 knots; force 7 to 10 on Beaufort scale
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Cimbri used the _Tamarix germanica_, the Scandinavians the fruit of the sweet gale (_Myrica gale_), the Cauchi the fruit and the twigs of the chaste tree (_Vitex agrius castus_), and the Icelanders the yarrow
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Part 3 "Brescia" to "Bulgaria" Various
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One by one, like a flight of swallows, our more meagrely sparred and canvassed yachts went by, leaving them wallowing and dead and shortening down in what they called a gale but which we called a dandy sailing breeze.
A Collection of Stories Jack London 1896
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At least megan gale is still his personal tooth fairy.
Cheeseburger Gothic » Because the ladies have been relatively well behaved… 2010
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He awoke in the morning to find a piping gale from the south, which caught the chill from the whited peaks and glacial valleys and blew as cold as north wind ever blew.
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And no more shall I write, I swear, until this gale is blown out, or we are blown to Kingdom Come.
CHAPTER XL 2010
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White-knuckled, she gripped the clacking needles so ferociously she could have knitted the booties in gale force winds and they still would have turned out ankle-stranglers.
First Matt Potter 2010
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"The gale is breaking," he told me, waving his mittened hand at a starry segment of sky momentarily exposed by the thinning clouds.
CHAPTER XXXVIII 2010
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And at the same moment the gale from the south-west ceased.
CHAPTER XII 2010
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Bevirt said the system is designed to withstand strong winds, and in gale-force winds or periods of no wind at all the array would be programmed to land itself and take to the air again when the wind conditions are more suitable.
Airborne Wind Turbines to Generate Power Using High-Altitude Winds | Impact Lab 2010
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Then I crossed on the ice, which was broken, and once drifted till a gale from the west put me upon the shore.
hernesheir commented on the word gale
"A gale of geese, a flock of geese."
"To cry with a harsh note, a term applied to the cuckoo." --Dr. Jamieson's Scottish Dictionary and Supplement, 1841.
May 18, 2011